Sanctuary ~ David Shea LIVE

A SOUNDFILM IN 8 ACTS – THE CINEMATIC MUSIC OF DAVID SHEA

Piano Concert Performance by Mettashea ~ David Shea
Venue ~ Sanctuary
Owner ~ Stevie Morane Basevi (Stevie Basevi)
Host ~ Kick Fisk (kickingfisk)

There are concerts you attend, and then there are concerts that seem to create their own little world.

David Shea’s “A Soundfilm in 8 Acts” at Sanctuary was very much the latter.

Set outdoors beneath towering stone columns and winding vines, Sanctuary is the sort of Second Life venue that seems designed for music like this. There’s something almost cinematic about the surroundings before the first note is played — an open-air setting, stone and greenery framing the space, with the audience gathered together for an hour of music that asks you to listen and imagine.

And then David Shea sits down at the piano.

Shea, performing as Mettashea, is a composer and performer whose work moves comfortably between classical music, film, soundscape and experimentation. Originally from New York and now living in Melbourne, Australia, Shea has built an extensive body of work, with some 85 albums available through his Bandcamp collection.

But on this afternoon, the recordings were secondary. The piano was right there in front of us.

The program, “A Soundfilm in 8 Acts,” explores one of the most interesting relationships in music: the connection between what we see and what we hear. Film composers have long understood that a piece of music can make us feel suspense, nostalgia, wonder or sadness before a character even says a word.

Shea turns that idea around.

Rather than simply accompanying images, the music becomes the image.

The eight sections of the performance unfolded like miniature films without the screen. Soundscapes, samples and dialogue from original films were woven around Shea’s live piano and ensemble work. Familiar cinematic ideas occasionally seemed to hover at the edge of recognition — the sort of musical moment that makes you think, “I know this,” even before you can quite place it.

And that was part of the fun.

Without a conventional screen dictating exactly what we should be seeing, the audience gets to supply the pictures.

One listener might hear a piano phrase and imagine a rainy city street. Another might find themselves somewhere entirely different — remembering a movie, a place, a person or simply a feeling that had been tucked away for years.

That is what made the performance work so well.

Shea plays with the kind of confidence that makes technically demanding music appear almost effortless. Notes arrive, linger for a moment and disappear into the surrounding space. At Sanctuary, the outdoor setting seemed to become part of the performance itself. The music drifted between the stone columns and vines, giving the impression that the venue wasn’t simply hosting the concert — it was participating in it.

There was also something wonderfully appropriate about experiencing film-inspired music in Second Life.

This is, after all, a place built around imagination. We routinely create environments that don’t exist in the physical world, visit places that could never be constructed, and surround ourselves with visual experiences that exist because someone imagined them.

Shea’s music works in much the same way.

It gives you the ingredients and lets your imagination finish the scene.

Sanctuary’s owner, Stevie Morane Basevi, has created a particularly beautiful setting for that kind of experience. The combination of open air, monumental stone architecture and climbing greenery gives the venue an almost ancient quality — a surprisingly fitting backdrop for music that travels through decades of cinema and musical history.

By the end of the hour, the distinction between soundtrack and concert had become pleasantly blurred.

There were no actors on a screen. No elaborate physical set. Just a pianist, a collection of sounds and the imaginations of everyone listening.

And perhaps that’s the real appeal of “A Soundfilm in 8 Acts.”

David Shea doesn’t simply play music inspired by movies.

He gives you the opportunity to make your own movie.

At Sanctuary, surrounded by stone, vines and an audience quietly listening, it was easy to forget for a while that we were sitting inside a virtual world.

Maybe that’s the magic of music.

Sometimes all it takes is a piano and a few carefully chosen notes to make an imaginary place feel completely real.

About David Shea

David Shea is a composer, performer, lecturer and Resident Artist at the Second Life Endowment for the Arts (SLEA). Originally from New York and now based in Melbourne, Australia, he performs across Second Life and online platforms including YouTube Live, Bandcamp and Twitch.

Shea performs regularly in Second Life through the Metta Music group, which provides notices about upcoming concerts and different programs.

You can explore David Shea’s music and recordings on Bandcamp and find his performances on YouTube.

Bandcamp: https://davidshea.bandcamp.com/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=newGiBbNCk0

About Sanctuary
Venue ~ Sanctuary

Sanctuary, owned by Stevie Morane Basevi, provides an atmospheric outdoor setting for live music and events in Second Life. With its dramatic stone architecture, columns and surrounding vines, it offers a particularly memorable environment for performances that invite audiences to slow down, listen and let their imaginations wander.

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